Adama Barrow removes Islamic from Gambia's name

- President Adama Barrow said The Gambia will no longer be called an Islamic republic

- The country was renamed Islamic Republic of The Gambia by former President Yahya Jammeh on December 11, 2015

- The Gambia, despite having a 90 percent Muslim population, with the rest Christian and animist, was a republic "not the Islamic republic," according to Barrow

President Adama Barrow said The Gambia will no longer be called an Islamic republic

The new Gambia President Adama Barrow has removed the ‘Islamic’ title from the country’s name.

According to Aljazeera, the president made this known at his first news conference since returning to take office on Thursday, January 26.

The country was renamed Islamic Republic of The Gambia by former President Yahya Jammeh on 11 December 2015.

As at the time of making the change declaration, Jammeh said it was designed to distance the country further from its colonial past.

According to Barrow, The Gambia, despite having a 90 percent Muslim population, with the rest Christian and animist, was a republic "not the Islamic republic," according to Barrow.

Recall that Yahya Jammeh, who was defeated by Adama Barrow in the December 1, 2016 presidential poll, finally left the country in the evening of Saturday, January 21, 2017 after 22 years of holding sway as the president of the tiny West African country.

Barrow on the other hand finally returned to Gambia from Senegal to take over the ruling the state by 4p.m. on Thursday, January 26.